Telly cops come in all shapes and sizes, tend to be loners – or a nightmare to live with – and usually like a drink or three.

These mavericks often have a dark guilty secret or terrible tragedy which drives them and makes them the damaged figure they’ve become – dead wife, dead kid, dead partner, or dead end career.

But there’s one thing that all TV cops have, apart from a badge and well-worn shoes, and that is a cool car.

It’s a strange fact that classic cars and cops go together like Philip Marlowe and smart-ass one-liners. Down-at-heel Lieutenant Columbo will never find himself head-hunted by a Ralph Lauren talent scout, but even his ancient battered 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible is a head-turner, and under the grime, a classic car.

In the 1950s all police cars came in any colour as long as it was  black; usually a wonderfully British Wolseley 6/80, a Riley Pathfinder or an MG Magnette complete with bells on the front, ringing loudly as Fabian of the Yard headed to the latest crime scene.

But all that changed in 1962 when Z Cars, a bright new soap based in Newtown, somewhere near Liverpool, came to millions of black and white Bush tellies all over the UK. These  guys – Fancy Smith (Brian Blessed) and his mates – drove seriously cool Ford Zephyrs (hence Z Cars). They were “real blokes” from Merseyside, not starchy chaps from central casting. In the 1970s The Sweeney sped to tell villains to put their trousers on “cos you’re nicked” in bronze Ford Granadas.

But then the trend started for nostalgic motors, starting with Bergerac’s burgundy Triumph roadster 2000, followed by Inspector Morse’s Red Jaguar Mk II – which the late John Thaw once told me looked great but was an absolute pig to drive.

Dennis Waterman broke his run of Fords in The Sweeney and Minder (a Ford Capri) by the time he’d become an old git in New Tricks and instead drove around visiting his numerous ex-wives in a beautiful Triumph Stag Mk 2.

Heartbeat, starring ex-EastEnder Nick Berry as an unlikely Yorkshire bobby, was set of course in the 1960s, so there were plenty of shots of classic old Ford Anglia and Morris Minor patrol cars, pale blue and white.

The Americans also got into the act – Miami Vice’s Sonny Crockett drove around in a black Ferrari Daytona (confiscated from a Columbian drugs baron, naturally) until the producers made the disastrous decision to swap it for a white Ferrari Testarossa, similarly acquired.

Starsky and Hutch had their classic red and white Ford Gran Torino and, like The Dukes of Hazzard’s General Lee ­­– it was entered via the window rather than by opening the door.

Since America is the land of the Private Eye we also had the ultra-cool Jim Rockford – played by the late James Garner in his Pontiac, heading to another nightmare case following a message on his famous Ansaphone. Meanwhile, the heavily-moustachioed Magnum drove around Hawaii in a lairy shirt, Detroit Lions baseball cap and a Ferrari – borrowed, in his case.

But, in more modern times, The Mentalist’s Patrick Jane opted for a lovely old Citroen DS, as favoured by the French President Charles De Gaulle and which also featured heavily in the 1970s movie Day of the Jackal.

Things took a turn to the Noir as Nordic dramas took over and dour Swedish and Danish cops like Wallander and The Killing’s Sarah Lund drove around in dull, safe Volvos and Saabs.

However, the wonderfully off-the-wall, socially-inadequate Swedish detective Saga Noren from The Bridge broke the trend with her classic mushy-pea green 1977 Porsche 911S.

So, one of the mysteries of telly sleuths remains – namely, how can they be so bad at relationships and life choices, yet have such great taste in cars?

Guest Blog written by Nigel Pauley – a Fleet Street journalist, who likes cars, crime novels and TV detective shows.